"People like you should fuck people like me," reads one her famous neon sign installations. "Good smile, Great come," reads another. Tracey Emin, a celebrated contemporary English artist, who has a retrospective of sorts opening today in London, is labeled a "wild child" of the art world with no chance of taming. Her neon scribbles are honest and personal, and speak of the post modern human condition on a profound level. Emin has had her fair share of hard knocks–growing up poor, raped at 13, and an abortion of twins at 18–so now, with her trademark lopsided smile and sexy glint in her eyes, she's appropriately getting back at this fucked up mess we call a world–in a beautiful way.

Good Smile Great Come

Emin's rise to prominence culminated with a special exhibit at the Tate Gallery in 1999, in which she presented her unmade bed in the museum exactly as it was in her home–after spending countless suicidal days in it following a fight in relationship. Yellowed sheets, cigarette butts, stained underwear, and condoms strewn about the bed was a shocking, visceral site to behold–a strange reminder of the fragile, intricacies of the human psyche. A famous photograph, a self-portrait of the artist herself, from a gallery show I've Got it All Now (2000) - displays Emin clutching bank notes and coins into her crotch - an analytical critique for man's unquenchable desire for money.

"Oh Christ, I Just Wanted You to Fuck Me, And Then I Became Greedy, I Wanted You To Love Me." from a Tracey Emin Installation

The exhibition, Tracey Emin: Love Is What You Want, opens today at the Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre in london and features painting, drawing, photography, textiles, video and sculpture, in works that are "by turns tough, romantic, desperate, angry, funny and full of longing." Seldom-seen early works and recent large-scale installations are shown together with a new series of outdoor sculptures created especially for the Hayward Gallery.

On view at the Hayward Gallery May 18 to August 29, 2011 - find tickets here.

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Allen Jones, the master and living legend, new exhibition at @marlboroughcontemporary visit the link in bio to purchase our spring 18 issue and get a rare early issue of Autre free, only the next 20 orders so hurry! #autremagazine #allenjones #contemporaryart #sculpture

“At the time, of course, I wanted a strong reaction. But I was expecting a strong reaction about whether it’s art. One was trying to kick over the traces and challenge the notion of what art can be.” New work by #AllenJones is on view now at @marlboroughcontemporary in New York, get your hands on this rare interview in an early newsprint issue we did free when you purchase our Spring 18 Issue (link in bio) #autremagazine #art #arthistory #popart #maitresse #sculpture #newsprint

Allen Jones “Bystander” on view now at @marlboroughcontemporary an exhibition of new work. Visit www.autre.love to purchase our spring 2018 issue and the next 20 orders will ship with an early newsprint issue we did with an exclusive interview of Allen Jones (link in bio) #allenjones #popart #marlboroughcontemporary #art #sculpture #eames #modernfurniture #modernlife

One more from Todd Weaver’s book featuring 36 individuals of varying creative classifications and phylums, here is @arianapapademetropoulos tonight @zebulonla the book will launch and there will be music, we’ll be there too #arianapapademetropoulos #toddweaver #36bytoddweaver #losangeles #zebulon

Todd Weaver weaves a beautiful portrait of Los Angeles’ artists, musicians and creatives in his new monograph called 36, launch tonight at @zebulonla 8pm be there, we will #devendrabanhart #toddweaver #music #losangeles #blackandwhite #36bytoddweaver

36 portraits, Los Angeles friends and collaborators, a lot of people we know and have featured in Autre, 36 is the name of the book by photographer Todd Weaver (@fstop_fitzgerald) launch tonight 8pm @zebulonla be there or be square #ryanheffington #zebulon #toddweaver #36 #losangeles

Regram from @agnesb_officiel @agnes_b_senga Its an honor, buy our issue now, link in bio or on select newsstands, and read an interview of the iconic designer and art collector #agnesb #autremagazine #paulthomasanderson #fashion #style #maripol #daidomoriyama

Mom with her Ren Hang from his first and last solo exhibition #WhatWeDoIsSecret in Los Angeles at @mamaprojects and Ren Hang’s editorial in our Spring 2018 Issue featuring @totem_collective #renhang #mothersday #fashion #autremagazine

“Upper East Side, 1984. Hailing a cab. Going to another museum. Going to see more art. The memory of the first painting that truly sunk it’s claws into my unconscious, Rousseau’s Sleeping Gypsy. A lion, a gypsy woman in a desert at night, a full moon. There was a haunting loneliness. A timelessness. It formed a lifelong obsession with art and the strange machinations of artists. So many questions left unanswered. If it wasn’t for you, Mom, there’s a good chance this whole magazine would not exist, so thank you and happy Mother’s Day.” - Oliver Kupper #mothersday #henrirousseau #thesleepinggypsy #newyork #1980s

Attention London, find our magazine on the shelf at @thephotographersgallery, head there and pick up a copy #London #paulthomasanderson #maripol #larryclark #autremagazine #jonasmekas #renhang

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Flo and Wim Wenders a couple weeks back on the occasion of Wim’s show at @blainsouthern stay tuned for a fun convo between these two in the next issue #wimwenders #polaroids #wingsofdesire #paristexas #legend #germans